Toyota, Ford and BMW set the pace for automotive industry in Mexico

Automobile industry keeps growing in good ol’ Mexico!

Mexico is in the automotive news this week with the announcement by Toyota Motor Corporation that it will expand its Tijuana assembly plant and Ford Motor Company’sdecision to move all its small-car production from the U.S. BMW also broke ground this week on its $1bn plant in San Luis Potosi.

Toyota will invest US $150 million at its Baja California plant in order to increase output of its Tacoma pickup truck from the current level of about 100,000 units a year to 160,000.

The plant, where a third shift was added in April last year, is stretched to the limit, running 24 hours a day Monday through Friday. The expansion will create about 400 new jobs, the company said.

Ford reconfirmed this week it would move the production of all its small cars to Mexico, where it already makes the Fiesta, over the next two to three years.

It is already building the plant in San Luis Potosí where most of the production will go. The $1.6-billion facility,announced last April, will begin operating in 2018.

Nearly two years after announcinga new assembly plant, BMW Group began construction this week of a new factory in San Luis Potosí.

Meanwhile German auto maker BMW will build the next-generation 3-series sedan at the new factory, with annual production predicted to total 150,000 cars. The model is one of the top-selling luxury cars in the U.S. and represents 30% of BMW’s revenues.

The US $1-billion plant will begin operating in 2019, employing 1,500 people directly, said company executive Oliver Zipse at a press conference.